Participants: Pr. Doug Venn
Series Code: IWTC
Program Code: IWTC000004A
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00:08 Over the past sixty years there's been a massive decline
00:11 in foreign missions. 00:15 I'm sharing the gospel through Church Planting. 00:19 In the 1930's if somebody gave $10.00 in tithe, they'd give an 00:22 additional $6.00 in foreign missions; today just 28 cents. 00:27 We're doing the best we can with what we have, 00:29 but I'm still not satisfied. 00:35 God's crazy in love with the Thai people, and I sense His 00:39 Spirit hovering over the city. 00:41 I've come to Bangkok, Thailand to discover the truth 00:43 about foreign missions. 00:45 Come with me as I follow my good friend, Pastor Doug Venn, 00:48 in his everyday life as a front line missionary. 00:50 I prayed for God's biggest dream, and He gave me 00:53 this city of 12 million. 00:56 Welcome to my world. 01:11 Alright guys, before we go let's have a word of prayer. 01:14 Dear Gracious Heavenly Father, first and foremost we want to 01:17 thank You for being a wonderful God. 01:19 Lord, for being a God who has blessed us 01:21 with more than we need. 01:23 Lord may Your Spirit shine through our actions, through our 01:26 deeds, through our words. 01:27 May we interact with love and the grace of Jesus Christ. 01:31 Lord we thank You that we're able to serve You 01:33 and, Lord, just do a little bit. 01:35 May this point to Your Kingdom, and to Your love. 01:37 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. 01:53 Jonathan. Yeah. What is this all about? 01:55 What are you guys doing here? 01:57 Well, we just wanted to do a rice drive. 01:59 We wanted to pick up a staple food item for a community 02:03 within our own city. 02:05 And so our school decided to do that. 02:08 And we picked up some rice. 02:09 We got a little over one ton of rice. 02:11 Then we partnered up with Hope for Bangkok to help them 02:16 with their communities; knowing that they're doing their 02:19 outreach in their ministry. 02:20 So we started to partner up with them, 02:22 and spread a little love through God's grace. 02:27 You know, we came out here last year. 02:28 I don't know very well, but I know it's a working community; 02:30 a bunch of day workers for the most part. 02:33 And so there's also support elderly couples out, 02:37 elderly folks within the community that 02:40 don't get out much. 02:41 And we pass out a bunch of rice. 02:43 It's interesting to see their reaction to rice. 02:46 Mine would be like, Oh, there's a truck of rice. 02:48 There's was, There a truck of rice! 02:50 So it was a bit different. 02:51 Then going into the community really impressed me the most. 02:54 Okay, you know, seeing some of the poor houses, 02:57 and just seeing how dirty it was, and all the ways 03:03 we could help them. 03:08 Oh no, no, no. They're definitely from the upper crust. 03:11 And so most of them haven't even seen the inner parts 03:16 of a community like this. Oh, really? 03:18 And so it will probably be a surprise to some of 03:20 them, and interesting. 03:27 Oh, five, maybe less. Really? Yeah. 03:30 So that's an outreach. 03:32 Yeah, about 70% of them are Buddhists. 05:26 We're getting formula ready for the babies. 05:29 We box them up for families. 05:31 It was donated by a doctor working at a hospital. 05:36 They said, Here can you use these? 05:38 And they said, Sure! 05:42 Well, yeah. 05:46 Our Thai Church Planter, _ is right now 05:49 over here in this room. 05:51 Because what they're going to do is he's going to be sharing 05:53 kind of a New Year's Blessing sermon, 05:55 because this is a Thai New Year, and then that way he can give 05:59 the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. 06:01 It's going to go out over the PA system over this 06:03 entire slum community. 06:11 Kungwalpai right now is sharing, asking during this Thai New Year 06:15 to ask God to bless the people. 06:20 And so part of that blessing that Kungwalpai is right now 06:23 is that he's going over the Ten Commandments. 06:26 And so then that way how when we worship God alone He gives us 06:30 blessing, and then also when we honor our father and mother 06:35 that He then gives us a long life when we follow God's law. 06:41 So that's what he's preaching right now. 06:44 Other people listening, so we just pray the Lord... 07:21 Can I take your picture? 07:49 Her name is _. 07:54 She's 75 years old. 07:59 So she's seen that we've earned a lot of merit because 08:05 we're giving rice away. 08:07 Are you guys Thai? Can you help me translate? 08:12 Because I'm slaughtering it. Okay. 08:16 Well, she's just saying that when you tried to speak to her 08:30 Yeah, she's saying that... 08:31 Anyway, she asked if I have an accent. 08:36 And I said, No, you're just being polite, or giving me _. 08:41 Ah, Thai, yeah. I have a good heart. 08:44 So the question is... 09:03 So she was 70, and she's what, 75 now? Yeah 09:38 Do you have any prayer requests that we can ask God? 09:43 So she's trying now, she's explaining what is prayer 09:46 to Grandma right now. 10:21 Have you ever met someone like this who just doesn't have... 10:25 Yeah, like those people, I have been to like other part of 10:30 Bangkok, and I have talked to some people, and I've seen like 10:34 this, yeah, quite a lot. 10:41 Okay, it's the Buddhist philosophy that you do good 10:47 and then that way you can then earn merit, so that way you can 10:52 then have good received back. 10:55 And so it's a circle of karma. 10:57 So if I'm evil in my life then in the next life I 11:00 will then receive evil. 11:02 And so that's where we try to encourage them over time to 11:09 think that it's not our merit, but it's Christ who is 11:13 righteous, or it's His merit that saves us. 11:18 I can't do anything good on my own. 11:21 It is Christ who is our righteousness. 11:23 It is Christ who gives me the heart to help others. 11:29 It is Christ who then helps us to care. 11:50 Honestly, I didn't really understand what 11:53 was happening here. 11:54 I thought that the only way to share the gospel was in straight 11:57 preaching to the crowds. 11:59 And here we are just handing out rice and singing songs. 12:19 But then the reality hit me. 12:24 Most of these people have probably not known a single 12:27 Christian in their entire life. 12:29 And the truth is that they've probably never set foot in a 12:32 Christian gathering before, and most of them 12:35 probably never will. 12:38 And even if they did, they probably wouldn't understand 12:41 the Christian words being used. 12:44 You know the likelihood of one of them going to a church on 12:47 Sabbath to listen to a sermon is about as great as you or I 12:51 going to a temple to shake out some fortune sticks. 12:54 But they do understand a kind gesture, a smile, 12:58 a gift of rice, and a personal offer of 13:02 goodwill and friendship. 13:04 This they are open to. 13:08 So we must bring Jesus to them, and we must use a language 13:13 they can understand, a visual language of kind service 13:17 prompted by nothing but the love of Christ. 13:28 She said, Welcome, come again. 13:37 This is brother Vinai, and what we're doing is he's helped 13:41 organize with the community leader this activity. 13:44 So we've given, distributed the rice already. 13:47 Vinai what are we going to do next? 14:12 Then there's another group here with the kids. 14:35 Okay, so now they've loaded up the leftover rice onto this 14:38 wheelbarrow, and we're going to head into the slum. 14:41 I'm not sure what to expect in this slum. 14:44 Will the people be friendly? 14:45 Are there big mangy dogs there ready to tear my legs off, 14:49 or murderous thugs in there? 14:50 I really don't know. 14:52 But have you noticed how we as humans tend to operate only 14:56 in the realm of what we know, what we've already done, 14:59 where we've already been? 15:00 How much are we missing by not venturing out a little bit? 15:05 How many good friends do we not have because we stayed at home? 15:13 So I'm going to put my concerns aside, and I'm going to invite 15:16 you to come with me as we go do some exploring. 15:46 You live there? You live there. 15:50 Can I walk down there? Yeah, okay. 16:09 This is your house? 16:28 Are you by yourself? 16:29 Do you have a husband? 16:35 Would you like to live in one of these homes here at the slum? 16:39 Well, not really. No, it's not a nice place to be. 16:43 It's kind of dirty around here, so maybe not. Yeah. 17:49 What are your name? 17:50 My name is John. John. John. 17:55 What is your name? Sam. Sam. 17:58 Galo. Glad to meet you. 18:02 Nice to meet you. 18:15 Okay, bye bye. By. See ya! 18:18 Hey, where are you going? 18:19 Where did those kids go? 18:21 Hello, woops! Oh, here they are. 18:23 Hi. It's so hot! 18:27 Bangkok is built on a swamp, and it's sinking 18:29 a little bit every year. 18:31 Though all their construction methods are very different from 18:34 what I'm used to, this fascinated me because I used 18:36 to work in the construction industry. 18:56 Okay, we finally caught up to the team 18:58 that's handing out rice. 19:01 It looks like they don't have much left. 19:17 I just was visiting with _ here and asking _, 19:20 you know _, what's your story? 19:22 You're an EIS student and you've come to help here. 19:25 But is this your first time in a community like this? 19:38 You grew up in a community like this. Yes. 19:41 And so you were saying that these communities were 19:47 all around Bangkok. 19:49 Yes, I mean like... 20:03 What was it that helped change your family and this 20:08 situation with your family? 20:18 What's your faith background? 20:32 Right. Wow, that's great! 20:33 And so do you think that as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian 20:37 that, you know, what's our role, or what's our opportunity as a 20:43 Thai coming to these neighborhoods and sharing Jesus? 20:47 Should we be doing that? 21:15 Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. 21:24 Little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong. 21:35 Yes Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me 21:50 the Bible tells... We're now at the next house, and we've been 21:55 working with the community leader. 21:58 And when we're doing the rice distribution at registration 22:02 we were collecting for the prayer requests. 22:04 And so we're now going with a community leader. 22:07 He's got the map here to this slum area, and so we're going 22:10 to each house in the area. 22:13 And we're now praying. 22:15 So we're going to pray. Let's join them. 22:40 We're on our way to the last house to go and pray. 22:43 The van's already loaded and so we've just got to meet a blind 22:49 man who has no work. 22:51 And we ran out of rice. 22:52 And no one's caring for him. 22:55 And so the students took up an offering to help him 23:00 with his need right now, so that was good. 23:06 So I'm going to catch up with the rest of the group. 23:08 now, so that was good. 23:16 We're nearing the end of our time here, and to be honest 23:20 with you, I'm really wanting to stay longer. 23:26 I've seen things here today that I've never seen before. 23:28 I've met people that I'd like to get to know better. 23:32 Maybe I ought to start learning Thai. 23:34 I wonder if they have something online? 23:40 I just sense there are doors here that open, and ways to 23:44 connect with people, and it's easy to make friends 23:47 and form associations. 23:49 I just wonder what kind of opportunities God would open 23:52 up if I came here and lived here, I moved in with these 23:55 people and lived like them, and became like them. 23:58 For most of them I'd be the only Christian they'd ever know. 24:02 But isn't that what Christ did to reach us? 24:05 Alright! Looks good! Good job. 24:13 What do you think of this place? 24:16 It's very wonderful. 24:19 Coming here helping people out, it's very inspiring, 24:23 and it's a good experience. Okay. 24:29 The kids are asking for _ phone number 24:31 so they can talk to her. 24:54 Jesus Christ tells us to go into all the world and to spread 24:59 the gospel, and that includes places like we were just at 25:03 in the slum community. 25:04 I know that many would say that missions is more than just 25:10 giving rice, and passing out tracts, or playing with kids. 25:14 But we find that in these ways that we build the bridge of 25:21 friendship, and then through that bridge of friendship that 25:24 Jesus Christ can be shared. 25:26 Well, we're back now to the school. 25:28 And we had a great time this afternoon. 25:31 Their response from the community leader, 25:34 as well as from the other families, they said that there's 25:36 several people who are ready now to learn more about God. 25:41 And so, in fact, actually I got a phone number and name 25:44 that I've got to pass on to one of our Thai Church Planters. 25:47 This lady has been studying with this pastor here. 25:52 And she moved away and hasn't been to church 25:55 in about five months. 25:56 And so it was a divine appointment today that we got 25:59 to meet her and get the contact information so that way our 26:06 Thai Church Planters can then follow up. And so... 26:10 We're, I'm just full of joy. 26:12 I do wish that we could give the opportunity for more people, 26:16 whether it's the students here, who have never had a chance 26:19 to see how other people live their lives, as well as then to 26:28 make a difference by sharing the gospel in practical ways 26:32 like what we did today. 26:34 Because it's just so neat that when people pray God's power 26:39 and His Spirit is unleashed, and able to then change their lives. 26:45 And so that to me brings so much joy, because I've seen God work 26:51 in the lives all across this city when people just try God. 26:56 You know, they may not have a complete understanding of 27:01 who He is, but when they try Him, and He steps into their 27:05 lives and opens ways, and they get to see and experience 27:09 His love, then their lives are transformed. 27:12 And then that's the bridge of curiosity that we can then, 27:16 are able to follow up with Bible study. 27:19 So that way people then can find out who is this God 27:22 that has changed my life? 27:54 Wait! There's more to this story. 27:55 Let's back up a bit. 27:58 Okay, here we go. See that lady in the background? 28:00 That's Mrs. Watkina. 28:02 When she was a child she went to see the Ten Commandment movie 28:05 with Charlton Heston, and had felt in her heart 28:07 that this was truth. 28:08 The next time she heard the Ten Commandments was thirty years 28:11 later when Pastor Kungwalpai read them over the loudspeakers. 28:15 Her heart was again stirred, and she requested Bible studies. 28:18 Volunteers began coming every week, and now she's a baptized 28:21 believer and a true light in her community. 28:25 The question is how many others are out there just waiting? 28:31 Did you know that 92% of Christian giving goes to 8% 28:38 of the world that speaks English? 28:39 It's quite incredible. 28:41 And 3 billion people have never heard the gospel before. 28:44 You can make a difference. 28:46 As you contribute to the Sabbath School Mission Offering, 28:50 your offerings go to provide materials, 28:54 and missionaries around the world. 28:56 If you want to learn more go to: |
Revised 2018-01-11